The music industry isn’t what it was. The internet age has drastically changed the landscape where aspiring artists find themselves. These days, music blogs are the links in the chain that connects artists with the public. Fortunately for us, blogs also are an avenue for artists to share their music for free.

Music blogs offer two important services. First, blogs give artists places to promote their music through free releases or streams, from the smallest street performer to the millionaire record label. For the rest of us, music blogs are reliable sources of new tunes. Their easily accessible format gives people more incentive to explore new music and genres. This in turn helps the artists, who benefit from getting their name out in an overcrowded music industry.

The appeal of music blogs is more than just an overwhelming quantity of free music. Their intuitive design allows users to get in as deep as they want in the constant stream of music. One could spend a few minutes searching and find a couple of songs, or spend a few hours and find enough music to fill out a new playlist
Music blogs come in various flavors these days. From indie to electro, reggae to hip-hop, if it has a beat, there’s a blog for it. Hypem.com (The Hype Machine), a useful tool in anyone’s search, helps prospective music hunters sift through the thousands of blogs on the internet.

The constant stream of updates keeps even the light surfer at the forefront of the music world. Good bloggers keep the front pages filled with fresh and original content, posting many times a day to ensure timeliness. This gives users an incentive to revisit often, or at least the knowledge that when they do return, they will have a new batch of music to enjoy.

That said, blog surfing is addicting. It’s not for the faint of heart. Side effects may include fattening of your music library, foot-tapping in class and subconsciously humming in the elevator. But if you take a look online, there’s a whole new world of music waiting for you.

A couple blogs to help you get started: thissongissick.com is a music blog run by a University of Colorado at Boulder student. This blog has a very good following and attracts some of the biggest names in hip-hop and electronic music. While the posts may be a bit more irregular than on other blogs, the content is always fresh and of good quality.

The Kollection: The Kollection is arguably one of the best blogs on the internet. It is run by a group of 10 dedicated bloggers who pull music from all over the internet into one place. From indie to dubstep, reggae to hip-hop, the Kollection encompasses almost every genre and posts around 4 times a day. The posts tend to be reposts from other blogs, but the convenience of The Kollection makes this site a great source for the casual blog surfer.